Long Space is pleased to announce its representation of Jia Yuhao (b. 1994, Taiyuan, Shanxi). Jia completed his undergraduate studies in 2017 at the Studio of Integrated Painting, Department of Oil Painting, China Academy of Art, and currently lives in Hangzhou. His solo exhibition, Tremors Within, will open on 6 November 2026. Presenting three series of paintings made since 2017, the exhibition examines the condition of the individual through the dulling of perception in comfortable surroundings, the pressures of enclosed spaces, and the swaying of bodies in transit.
The second-floor gallery at Long Space presents Tremors, a series made in 2019–2020 that laid the foundation for the artist’s subsequent practice. On buses, metro trains and other forms of public transport, Jia was drawn to the way passengers swayed with the motion of the vehicle. The synchronised frequency and rhythm of this bodily response seemed to give visible form to the passive resonance of bodies swept along by “fate”. This observation moved the artist and prompted his first attempt to develop a series of paintings.
To convey the visual experience of this “train of fate”, Jia adopts two extremes in his treatment of space: a horizontal arrangement in a single row, and a perspectival space with a pronounced sense of depth. In other words, space is either almost entirely flat or extends almost infinitely. The figures are pushed into the foreground as isolated presences, creating a sense of oppression. The harsh lines and black forms of their surroundings engulf individuals like black holes, blurring their faces and stripping away their clothing. Existence is laid bare anew and redefined through a different kind of feeling: the tremors and fluctuations of the soul. Almost imperceptibly, the mechanical swaying of bodies gradually becomes an inner unease within the paintings.
The third-floor gallery presents a group of recent, colourful paintings made using a distinctive technique. Jia peels off multiple layers of dried acrylic paint and adheres them to a surface, then sands them to create a mottled, matte ground. This ground, onto which he subsequently paints, resembles a psychedelic vortex or the surface of unfathomably deep water. The theme of this group is Comfortably Numb, borrowed from the title of a Pink Floyd song. These works explore the dulling of perception in comfortable surroundings: immersed in such environments, one may gradually lose awareness of one’s own situation. The paintings draw on historical legends, screen-based illusions and personal imaginings. Beneath their romantic surface, bodies remain driven by anger and desire, while comfortable surroundings harbour an unease that is difficult to dispel.
This floor also includes four paintings titled Inner War (White). Created during the pandemic lockdowns, the series uses pale tones to convey the despair and helplessness of individuals in enclosed spaces. The almost abstract compositions depict only a floor and a wall; their horizontal and vertical planes confine human activity to the spatial bounds of a still-life painting. Soft white forms hang down from above, exerting a suffocating pressure. Bodies with sallow skin strain to adjust their postures, resisting pressure while trying to maintain stability. Their proportions and anatomy are exaggerated, and their contorted postures reveal the limits of the body’s capacity to withstand pressure; mouths opened wide seem to emit silent cries. The series stages the body in an interior setting through a succession of stretches, displacements and ruptures. Within these silent, confined spaces, the body bears the pressure while continuing its effort to maintain its posture.
Jia Yuhao begins with subtle bodily experiences, translating the often unnoticed tensions of everyday life into painting. A sway caused by inertia or a constrained posture may offer a starting point for recognising one’s own condition.